The moment the door to Seungwan’s apartment swings open, Sooyoung finds herself face to face with Seungwan.

 

More accurately, a flour-dusted and slightly frazzled Seungwan.

 

Sooyoung blinks.

 

“Well, you look busy.” She raises an eyebrow, gesturing to Seungwan’s hands, which are caked with batter, complete with a matching, accidental small streak across her cheek.

 

“Stress-baking,” Seungwan says simply, before turning away and making a beeline back towards the kitchen, where a stand mixer whirrs away. “I promise we can hang out in a bit; I just have to finish this up. Do you want to help?”

“Sure.” Sooyoung hums, leaving her bag on the couch before she follows Seungwan into the kitchen.

“What are you making?” Sooyoung eyes Seungwan carefully, who hums a tune under her breath as she rearranges the counter, granting Sooyoung more space.

“Chocolate chip cookies!” She chirps in reply.

“Ooh! Can I take some home?”

“Knock yourself out! I’m planning to give these out at the hospital tomorrow, anyway.”

“How chivalrous.”

Seungwan waves a hand vaguely. “Oh, it’s just evidence that I’m overworked, really.” She replies, a touch dryly. With the doctor’s shirt spattered with white splotches of flour and God knows what other baking ingredients, and her hair done up in a messy bun that’s barely holding it together, Seungwan looks anything but put-together.

Yet, despite the mess, Sooyoung can’t quite help the ghost of a smile that tugs at the corners of her lips, because Seungwan’s still as cheerful as ever, adorably awkward and all kinds of heart-meltingly endearing.

 

 

Not that she ever plans on telling Seungwan that.

 

“Why don’t you take a few days off?” Sooyoung nudges her.

Seungwan huffs out a sigh.

“I probably should.” The doctor admits, albeit somewhat reluctantly. “Maybe go on a road trip or something. A little time and space away from the city sounds nice.” She hums as she passes a large bowl of flour to Sooyoung. “Here, you can do the honours.”

Sooyoung hefts the bowl of flour, allowing its contents to fall slowly into the larger bowl affixed to the stand mixer.

“This is a lot of responsibility for someone who’s barely baked.”

“You’ll be fine! After all, I’m here.” Seungwan grins, much to Sooyoung’s amusement.

“What a flirt.”

Seungwan’s grin merely grows. “That was nothing, Park Sooyoung. I can do a lot better than that.”

 

 

“Oh yeah?”

“What, you don’t believe me?”

“Oh, no, no. You’ve shown your abilities at your family’s networking event thing.”

Seungwan raises an eyebrow. “Well, if you’d like an encore, I’d be more than happy to provide one.”

 

With that, Sooyoung dumps the remaining flour into the stand mixer and moves away from the machine, deliberately scooting around behind Seungwan before she sets the bowl back down on the counter.

“Nope! I’m good, thanks!” She says, a little too loudly as she brushes stray strands of hair away from her face.

Seungwan barks out a laugh.

“I’m kidding, relax.” Seungwan shoots her a smile before turning her attention back to the dough and bustling about the counter.

 

They’ve come a long way from their first meeting barely a few months ago.

The Seungwan before Sooyoung now is decidedly more relaxed and playful in her presence; a little less put-together than her usual image, but no less perfect.

 

“I liked you better when you were all nervous around me.” Sooyoung complains, mock sourly, but it merely earns her a look of amusement from Seungwan.

“It’s too late for that. From now on, all you’ll be getting is an annoying version of me.”

“Hey, you’re not annoying.”

“Hm?”

“You’re not annoying,” Sooyoung repeats. “You’re one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.”

The amused smile on Seungwan’s lips curl into a ghost of a smaller, shyer smile.

“Plus, you’ve got a great sense of humour.” Sooyoung adds, a little teasingly now, and it earns her a nudge in the ribs.

“Ah, stop it, you’re making me all embarrassed.” Seungwan mumbles, waving the compliments away, but the smile lingers on her lips still; a rare sight from the doctor who has been all but overworked and spread too thin for far too long.

 

Sooyoung watches as Seungwan turns the stand mixer off, hefting the mixing bowl onto the counter before grabbing a spoon. Scooping a small bit of cookie dough with the tip of the spoon, Seungwan hands it over to her, but Sooyoung merely looks at Seungwan in confusion.

Nevertheless, she accepts the spoon, albeit with hesitance.

"What am I supposed to do with this, exactly?”

Seungwan furrows her eyebrows.

“Have you never eaten cookie dough?” She asks, a little incredulously.

Sooyoung wrinkles her nose. “I have, I just didn’t know that it was actually a thing people do on the regular.”

“Try it! It’s great.” Seungwan urges. As if to prove her point, the doctor swipes up a tiny dollop from the bowl with her fingertip before promptly it off her finger with a grin.

 

It’s ridiculous, really, because Seungwan is painfully oblivious, and Sooyoung’s heart is leaping and crashing all at once.

A terrifyingly sweet mess of emotions and jumbled thoughts, all of which are strikingly familiar to her.

Like most people around Seungwan in their high school days, she’d admired the older woman. It wasn’t that difficult to see why, given Seungwan’s seemingly bottomless limit for kindness and friendliness, combined with her almost infectious cheer.

 

Or maybe it had been a little more than admiration, but it’d felt a little foolish and embarrassing to admit it back then, when they were nothing more than acquaintances who made small talk and the occasional proper conversation.

 

Sooyoung just hadn’t expected it to resurface again, years after she was convinced she’d left those feelings behind her.

 

Sooyoung clears . “Are you sure you’re supposed to eat this? The last time I checked, eating raw eggs and flour aren’t exactly the brightest ideas.”

Seungwan merely dismisses her concern with a wave of her hand.

“Well, this baker and doctor is telling you that it’s fine.”

With a roll of her eyes, Sooyoung takes a small bite, chewing experimentally.

There’s a few seconds’ worth of consideration, before she speaks.

“Y’know, it’s not too bad.” Sooyoung eventually agrees, much to Seungwan’s delight.

“I told you so.” Seungwan hums happily, promptly swiping another dollop with her finger.

“So… are we going to put these in the oven, or are we going to just keep eating them as is?” Sooyoung raises an amused eyebrow. It earns her a half-hearted eyeroll from the older woman, who then moves to hand another clean spoon to Sooyoung.

“Use this and put the dough on the baking tray.” She says, before getting a spoon for herself as well. “I mean, you can eat some as we go, but I can’t recommend eating an excessive amount of raw eggs and flour.”

“Says the one who keeps eating it by the spoonful.”

“Hey! That’s an exaggeration and you know it.” Seungwan huffs, mock indignant. “I’m going to rescind your cookie privileges.”

She’s pouting now, but Sooyoung merely grins.

“Aw, look at you! Being all sulky and cute.” Sooyoung coos, reaching out to pinch Seungwan’s cheek.

The doctor makes no move to stop her, and instead levels Sooyoung with an amused look.

“Somehow, this feels like a backhanded compliment.” Her words are slightly garbled thanks to Sooyoung’s fingers, which linger on her cheek still.

 

There’s a momentary pause.

 

Then, Seungwan’s eyebrows furrow a little, and her gaze flickers from Sooyoung’s outstretched hand to meet Sooyoung’s eyes.

“Are you, uh, going to let go of me now?”

 

It’s only then that Sooyoung jolts to action, snatching her hand away.

 

Heat floods her cheeks, and she turns away, clearing as she avoids the doctor’s curious gaze.

“Seriously though, you deserve some time off. Get some rest and take your mind off your patients. I haven’t seen you smile like you did today in a while.” She says, eager to switch topics.

If Seungwan had noticed the sudden change in demeanour, she doesn’t comment on it.

 

The older woman hums in agreement. “I think I will. Do you want to come with?”

 

“What?” Sooyoung says, a little dumbly.

 

“Do you want to come with me on a trip? I was thinking we could drive over to a couple of the nearby cities. Y’know, grab some food, walk around for a bit, do some sight-seeing.” Seungwan fumbles a little. “I—It’s fine if you don’t want to, I know you’ve got a lot on your plate, especially since you’ve just started at your new job! I’m sorry I asked, I should’ve thought of that first—” A small, awkward chuckle escapes her, “Sorry, it just sort of slipped my mind. It was a dumb question, just forget I asked—"

“Seungwan.” Sooyoung cuts in.

“I know, I know, you’re busy and this is a really last-minute decision—”

“I’d love to go.”

“—Wait, what?”

 

Seungwan stares at Sooyoung, surprise written all over her face.

 

“I’d love to go with you.”

“Oh!” Seungwan says, a little breathlessly. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

 

The beginnings of a shy, tentative smile forms on Seungwan’s lips. “That’s great.”

 

 

Sooyoung thinks that happiness is a good look on Seungwan.

 

---

 

“Should we take the bullet trains instead? They’re probably more efficient than driving.” Seungwan’s voice floats from across the table, and Sooyoung glances up from her laptop screen to find the older woman hunched over her own laptop, eyebrows furrowed as she squints at the screen in front of her.

“Are you sure? I thought you said you wanted to do the whole road-tripping thing.” Sooyoung leans back into her chair, wincing at the stiffness in her back.

“I did, but it just seems a little too troublesome. Besides, if we take the car, we’re going to have to take turns to drive. If we’re taking my car, it might be a little difficult for you to adjust to driving my car, and I don’t want you to be tired and stressed out on the trip.” Seungwan frets, a hint of a frown already forming.

 

Sooyoung leans in again and reaches across the table, gently placing her hand over Seungwan’s own.

 

Seungwan’s hands are warm and soft beneath hers.

 

The doctor’s next few words die on the tip of her tongue, and the older woman’s attention flickers to their overlapped hands before she meets Sooyoung’s gaze.

 

Sooyoung gives Seungwan’s hand a gentle squeeze.

 

It’s a bit of an odd internal battle, because as much as Sooyoung wants to comfort her friend, the mere touch of Seungwan’s skin against hers has her heart is in , and Sooyoung’s almost convinced that Seungwan’s already caught on.

 

She swallows, cracking a small smile.

 

“Hey, this is your holiday as much as it is mine. What do you want?” Her voice is quiet, gentle.

Seungwan shrugs. “I’m okay with anything, honestly.”

“Yeah, but what do you prefer? Surely, you’ve got a preference.”

Seungwan’s lips pucker into a thoughtful frown as the doctor considers this.

“Well…” She starts, hesitantly. “Probably taking the bullet trains. I’d like to relax a little more this time around.”

“Then bullet trains it is.” Sooyoung smiles.

 

---

 

Between their hectic schedules, the only time they get to sit down and plan their trip is either on their off days, or when neither of them are on night shifts.

Naturally, they’re both bone-tired by the time they meet up at Seungwan’s house after work, and Sooyoung has to stifle a yawn as she scrolls through yet another travel guide website on her laptop.

 

“Tea?” Seungwan offers.

Sooyoung declines with a wave of her hand, before the younger woman pauses momentarily.

“You remembered.” She says, surprise tinging her voice.

Seungwan blinks. “About what?”

“That I don’t drink coffee.”

A small, embarrassed smile lights Seungwan’s features. “Oh, that? It’s nothing, really.”

“I guess you’re paying pretty close attention to my preferences, huh?” Sooyoung raises an eyebrow, a teasing smile already forming, and Seungwan huffs.

“Whatever helps you sleep better at night, Park Sooyoung.”

Sooyoung laces her fingers together, propping her chin with her elbows resting against the tabletop. “I’ll take it as a yes?”

Seungwan harrumphs, pointedly turning her attention back to her own laptop screen. “I thought you were sleepy. Where’s all this energy coming from?”

“Oh, you know, I can’t possibly stay sleepy after your little confession.”

“You’re horrible.” Seungwan wrinkles her nose.

“I know.” Sooyoung grins, and her attention flickers back to her laptop screen. “Speaking of which,” She adjusts her laptop to face Seungwan. “I found a couple of shopping malls in Busan that we could go to. It’ll be nice to do a little bit of shopping and café hopping.”

“I don’t mind!” Seungwan hums good-naturedly.

“… But?” Sooyoung prompts.

“Hm?”

Sooyoung raises an eyebrow. “I sense some hesitation on your end, Ms Son.”

Seungwan’s cheeks redden. “That obvious, huh?” She chuckles, a little nervously. “I mean… I’d love to visit a couple of them, but I’m a little more interested in the art galleries and museums.”

“We can do those too! It’s not the kind of thing I usually go for, but I think it’ll be interesting.”

 

It mustn’t have sounded very convincing, because there’s an amused smile from Seungwan.

“You’re not just saying this for me, are you?”

“O—Of course not!”

Seungwan hums in a tone that suggests anything but agreement. “How about this? We’ll split the trip fifty-fifty. You get to decide what we do for a day, and the next day we’ll do my plan, and we can just alternate days from there.” Seungwan suggests.

Sooyoung smiles.

It’s a pleasant sort of surprise, really, to be able to be truly comfortable with finding a middle ground between disagreements and differing opinions.

 

“Sounds like a plan to me.”